How much do you drink, honestly?

[mattnovak]

Day 3 of sobriety for me. Earlier in this thread I stated that I was drinking up to a 70cl bottle of vodka per day. Probably did 40cl on Saturday, had a row with Mrs Novak and haven’t picked up (or most importantly, bought) a bottle since.

Cross trained last night, gym at lunchtime today and 45 minutes of squash tonight to keep my mind occupied.

Wish me luck!

[Welshbeef]

Averaging 100 units a week year round is punchy - but given he’s following he footie what 4 nights a week and working late he was/is either working half cut or he drink a heck of a lot on non work days.


I bet he is a riot roubd the summer hols swimming pool. Probably doesn’t even realise he has a family!

[TameRacingDriver]

FocusRS3 said:

The biggest problem I find is how badly booze affects my sleep.

Some seem to never have this issue but I'm man down after a big night

+1 to that. Usually a 4am wake up with a bad head and/or heartburn and then can't get back to sleep. Ive lost count of the amount of times I've not had a lie in of a weekend because I simply can't sleep.... I think possibly this is one of the more damaging effects for your health as you simply can't recuperate properly.

[Sa Calobra]

mattnovak said:

Day 3 of sobriety for me. Earlier in this thread I stated that I was drinking up to a 70cl bottle of vodka per day. Probably did 40cl on Saturday, had a row with Mrs Novak and haven’t picked up (or most importantly, bought) a bottle since.

Cross trained last night, gym at lunchtime today and 45 minutes of squash tonight to keep my mind occupied.

Wish me luck!

Good luck. It gets easier

Accept something in your life wasn't/isn't right. Find it and sort it and it'll be easier to stop overdoing the booze.

40cl ain't bad once or twice a week max.

[FocusRS3]

TameRacingDriver said:

+1 to that. Usually a 4am wake up with a bad head and/or heartburn and then can't get back to sleep. Ive lost count of the amount of times I've not had a lie in of a weekend because I simply can't sleep.... I think possibly this is one of the more damaging effects for your health as you simply can't recuperate properly.

For sure. Plus then the next day is a write off and at weekends that's no fun !

[gregs656]

mattnovak said:

Day 3 of sobriety for me. Earlier in this thread I stated that I was drinking up to a 70cl bottle of vodka per day. Probably did 40cl on Saturday, had a row with Mrs Novak and haven’t picked up (or most importantly, bought) a bottle since.

Cross trained last night, gym at lunchtime today and 45 minutes of squash tonight to keep my mind occupied.

Wish me luck!

Nice one. Stay determined!

[Sa Calobra]

FocusRS3 said:

TameRacingDriver said:

+1 to that. Usually a 4am wake up with a bad head and/or heartburn and then can't get back to sleep. Ive lost count of the amount of times I've not had a lie in of a weekend because I simply can't sleep.... I think possibly this is one of the more damaging effects for your health as you simply can't recuperate properly.

For sure. Plus then the next day is a write off and at weekends that's no fun !

This is what stops me from a proper session. Days off are precious. A couple of weeks ago I went to a boozy BBQ and the next two days were affected. Felt like I had a few hours of fun in an entire three day rest day stretch from work.

Not fun.

[Greshamst]

One question I've got for those that are drinking near the 100 units a week, or putting back a few bottles of wine every night, plus more on weekend daytimes... when do you get the chance to drive? Is it a case of only being able to drive late afternoons and early weekend days, or do you chance it with hopefully being under the limit by the time you wake up?

[FiF]

Greshamst said:

One question I've got for those that are drinking near the 100 units a week, or putting back a few bottles of wine every night, plus more on weekend daytimes... when do you get the chance to drive? Is it a case of only being able to drive late afternoons and early weekend days, or do you chance it with hopefully being under the limit by the time you wake up?

Good question, and if he cares to look back to Dec 2017 on this thread Mr Welshbeef et Al will then understand why I decided to take steps to limit alcohol and how. He even commented on the post at the time. LoL, still booze affects memory.

Those saying Adrian Chiles is talking bks, from memory what he said was his perception was that his drinking was of the couple of pints with a mate type of stuff, but only when he actually measured things was he shocked. Personally I've never ever been close to that number of units in a week, not even student days, so no personal experience of that level of intake so have to accept his word.

[TameRacingDriver]

Greshamst said:

One question I've got for those that are drinking near the 100 units a week, or putting back a few bottles of wine every night, plus more on weekend daytimes... when do you get the chance to drive? Is it a case of only being able to drive late afternoons and early weekend days, or do you chance it with hopefully being under the limit by the time you wake up?

Speaking personally, I don't use my car for work and haven't for a long time. In fact, I use my car so infrequently that I sometimes question why I bother keeping it, but I am kind of attached to it. Hopefully that's a question now that will be a moot point now that I am genuinely serious of bringing my drinking down to vaguely sensible levels.

However, and at the risk of taking a flaming (I won't bother responding), when I did drive to work, I'm not proud of it, but will admit I still drove to work the next day. I have no idea whether I was over the limit or not, I usually felt OK is what I will say, however, at the time, I was pretty much so low (depressed) I didn't give a monkeys whether I got banned or not. Sad but true.

[Robertj21a]

Good to see this thread continue in the spirit (sorry !) intended. Sensible and honest postings from some who may well find it a bit therapeutic to offload issues on to an anonymous bunch on an internet forum. That's why it works so well. Amazing that we've been able to largely avoid the judgemental comments that we'd all expected in the early days.

Excellent stuff, keep up the good work chaps !!

[FocusRS3]

Let myself down last night .
Succumbed to a full bottle of Rose and hating life today !

There is a fundamental reason for the ‘fall’ which will be getting addressed at some stage so there is light .

I’m hardly drinking to excess but it’s unecesary and I do it for effect .

Edited by FocusRS3 on Wednesday 22 August 12:55

[Seventy]

After the Chiles interview I thought I would add up my weekly intake again.

I reckon I average around 40/60 units a week most weeks. Some will be more, some less.
I would like to get that down but I am a slave to habit. Walk the dog - couple of pints at the pub on the way home. Nice supper - much nicer with a nice Rioja. Sunday lunch then football - bottle of wine+ imbibed.
I don't drink spirits at all and never have.
I struggle to sleep if I drink a bottle of wine, wake up early sometimes with a racing heart and usually anxious.
I did dry January this year and felt so good that I carried on for a couple of weeks after, I wish I hadn't given in!

[TameRacingDriver]

Seventy said:

After the Chiles interview I thought I would add up my weekly intake again.

I reckon I average around 40/60 units a week most weeks. Some will be more, some less.
I would like to get that down but I am a slave to habit. Walk the dog - couple of pints at the pub on the way home. Nice supper - much nicer with a nice Rioja. Sunday lunch then football - bottle of wine+ imbibed.
I don't drink spirits at all and never have.
I struggle to sleep if I drink a bottle of wine, wake up early sometimes with a racing heart and usually anxious.
I did dry January this year and felt so good that I carried on for a couple of weeks after, I wish I hadn't given in!

I don't see that as a huge problem to be fair.

Much is made of the negatives of drinking, but, while drinking clearly isn't beneficial in any real way to health, its also important to enjoy life, and I do feel it's not always healthy to feel guilty about things which may genuinely enrich your life too. If I drank in the way you describe, I would likely not even be posting on this thread as I wouldn't feel in the least bit guilty about it; I am posting on here, because drinking was taking over and ruining my life, but if you don't mind me saying that seems far from the case here

[wibble cb]

Here was me thinking that my 1-2 cans of Old speckled Hen a night (on average) was something to be worried about....Not to put anyone else down for their habits, but I have a wife who doesn't drink all that much so frowns if I have a 2nd beer on Friday nights.

[deckster]

TameRacingDriver said:

I don't see that as a huge problem to be fair.

Much is made of the negatives of drinking, but, while drinking clearly isn't beneficial in any real way to health, its also important to enjoy life, and I do feel it's not always healthy to feel guilty about things which may genuinely enrich your life too. If I drank in the way you describe, I would likely not even be posting on this thread as I wouldn't feel in the least bit guilty about it; I am posting on here, because drinking was taking over and ruining my life, but if you don't mind me saying that seems far from the case here

I don't disagree with the sentiment, but I think we need to make a distinction between things which 'genuinely enrich your life' and things which are just habit. A quiet pint in a nice pub garden on a sunny afternoon = enriching. Stopping in for a few wifebeaters at the local every day because that's just what you do...not so much. Equally, a glass or two with lunch = a better lunch. That doesn't mean you need to finish the bottle. Watching the match, great. Getting hammered whilst doing so...not really necessary.

The second point really is that drinking doesn't have to be 'ruining your life' for it to be a problem. I'm not saying that the poster in this case has a problem, but equally dismissing it because it's not quite at the level that you personally perceive to be an issue isn't really helpful. None of us 'need' to drink and being conscious of what you're drinking on an everyday level can only be a good thing, whether you choose to cut down or not. Particularly, understanding what is 'just habit' and what is actually 'enriching' and genuinely enjoyable is a key thing for me, and cutting down on the 'just habit' drinking means that the 'enriching' stuff is even better!

[TooMany2cvs]

wibble cb said:

Here was me thinking that my 1-2 cans of Old speckled Hen a night (on average) was something to be worried about....Not to put anyone else down for their habits, but I have a wife who doesn't drink all that much so frowns if I have a 2nd beer on Friday nights.

She may just be telling you to buy better beer. OSH is OK, but cans...? Never.

[Sa Calobra]

Currently drinking Croatian red wine at the moment. Not found a bad one yet.

[Robertj21a]

Sa Calobra said:

Currently drinking Croatian red wine at the moment. Not found a bad one yet.

Are you planning to keep trying them all until you find a bad one ?

[wibble cb]

TooMany2cvs said:

wibble cb said:

Here was me thinking that my 1-2 cans of Old speckled Hen a night (on average) was something to be worried about....Not to put anyone else down for their habits, but I have a wife who doesn't drink all that much so frowns if I have a 2nd beer on Friday nights.

She may just be telling you to buy better beer. OSH is OK, but cans...? Never.

Beggars can’t be choosers, I can only get it in cans these days, rarely in bottles, and almost never on tap, I live in Toronto!